Groupon to exit seven markets, shed 1,100 jobs as part of $35 million restructuring effort

Daily deals specialist Groupon on Tuesday put in motion a restructuring program that will see it shed 1,100 jobs – or 9.3 percent of its workforce – worldwide through September of next year. Most of the job cuts will be in the international sales and customer service departments.

The company expects to record charges to the tune of $35 million as a result of the layoffs, mostly to fund employee severance and compensation benefits packages.

Groupon said in a regulatory filing that cost savings will be immaterial for this year and that savings in 2016 and forward will primarily be reinvested into the company.

As part of the restructuring, Groupon is also exiting a number of countries it currently does business in including Morocco, Panama, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay. This is in addition to its recent departure in Greece and Turkey. Groupon said the required investment and market potential in these regions simply don’t align.

Groupon became the largest Internet IPO since Google when it went public in 2011, raising $700 million and trading north of $26 at its debut. Things started going south almost immediately and aside from a brief run near the end of 2013, it’s been all downhill since.

As of writing, Groupon is trading at $4.06 a share and is down 2.64 percent on the day.